A blog discussing the forms and fashion of fencing in the Victorian Age

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Some
Notes on the Development of Victorian Saber Fencing

(Looking at Angelo, Wayne, Burton,
Hutton and Breck)

Where the foil was fenced as
training with the civilian gentleman’s dueling sword, the saber still belonged
to the military in the Victorian Era. Of course, this varied from country to
country, with France, England, Italy and Austria all developing styles
particular to their nation.

As with the foil, England and
America tended to follow France, eschewing the saber as a civilian dueling
weapon. Italy and Austria both developed dueling sabers in the 19th
century.

In the 19th
century fencing masters struggled to keep the saber as part of military
drilling. Manuals were written and submitted to the army, navy, and cavalry in
both America and England.

HENRY
CHARLES ANGELO the Younger (1780-1852)

Henry Charles Angelo the Younger in a pencil drawing by W.H. Nightingale, 1839. National Portrait Gallery, London

Henry Charles Angelo is the
author of Infantry Sword Exercise in
1845. He was part of the Angelo fencing dynasty established by his grandfather
in England in the mid-18th century. He became Superintendent of Sword
Exercise for the Army and Navy in Great Britain and his work was the standard
manual for sword instruction in the Army until the end of the nineteenth
century. The 1845 manual was actually a revised version originally published in
1817, though the content changed little between the editions.

Angelo explains in
his introduction that “The following Instructions are laid down as the surest
and quickest mode of forming Swordsmen”.

The sword featured by Angelo would have been either the 1822 or the 1845 pattern infantry officer's sword. The hilt was a half basket and "Gothic" in design. The 1822 blade would have been pipe-backed, while the redesign by Wilkinson in 1845 had a fullered blade. However, the was used for training with a variety of swords during the period.

1822 pattern infantry officer's sword with pipe-backed blade

1845 Wilkinson version with fullered blade

Section I - Extension
Motions and the Positions

Since the manual is for
military instruction, the drills are conducted in Lines or Files.

He begins with a
series of preparatory drills of Extension Motions. These are exercises without the sword that will “expand the chest, raise
the head, throw back the shoulders, and strengthen the muscles of the back” and
is intended as a preparation to “give a free and active use of the limbs”. The
Motions include practice of the three positions commonly taught in Victorian
fencing. First Position is with the feet together and the legs straight, Second
Position is what modern fencing considers On Guard, and the Third Position is
the position of the lunge.

With Angelo the guard or
Second Position still has the weight of the body resting on the rear foot,
rather than in the center.

Angelo defines the Line of
Direction as the “position of the feet, body and arms kept invariably in a
straight line on the proper position of Guard…if you form your guard too wide,
you are said to deviate from the Line of Direction, and consequently leave some
part of your body unguarded”.

Section II – Preparatory
Instruction with the Sword

Angelo presents a chart
showing the seven Cuts and Guards (defense or parries). The guards are formed
by the fencer opposite to the sword-hilts in the picture. The picture is meant
only as a reference for correctly forming the guards and cuts, and “giving the
proper direction of the edge in making the cuts”.

Angelo gives three positions
for Engaging Guards – The first is simply called the Guard (which is a Hanging Guard),
the second is the Inside Guard (with the hand in quarte) and finally the Outside
Guard (with the hand in tierce). He then goes through a series of military
movements that include Draw Swords, Recover Swords; Carry Swords; Slope Swords;
and Return Swords.

Guard

Inside Guard

Outside Guard

To find the proper distance
for drills, Angelo uses the term “Prove Distance”, which essentially uses the
lunge to find the proper distance for conducting actions. Attacks are delivered
with a lunge, afterwards recovering to a position of guard.

There are Seven Cuts and
Three Points (thrusts). At the command “Assault” the cuts are to be practiced in
combination without any pause “as by the proper and timely turn of the wrist the
Cuts will lead into each other”. This is much like Hutton’s moulinet exercise.

He notes that while each Cut
has its Guard, in a true assault the fencer can use whatever is effective at
the time. “He may frequently be enabled to secure himself more effectively and
quicker, by forming some other guard”

The Point or Thrust is given
with nails up or down. Angelo notes that “The Point being generally the most
effective, should occasionally be substituted for the Cut [in practice], either
in the attack, or in a quick return from a defensive Guard”. The Thrust must be
made so that you cover yourself and resist his blade (opposition).

Section III is a series of Review
or Inspection Exercises, varying with each Guard being formed after its
respective Cut.

Section IV has the recruits
putting in practice their cuts and guards with exercises for Attack and Defense.
For this he recommends stick drills used for practice. This is the singlestick,
already in use as a substitute for the saber.

“The sticks are to be about
forty inches long, and not so weak as to bend, and leather hilts being merely
large enough to cover the hand, without confining it; and on no account are the
Masks to be omitted, as they enable those who practice to cut or thrust with
more confidence”.

Rules for Independent
Practice with Sticks is followed by General Observations and Directions and an Appendix
with Words of Command throughout the Progressive Instructions of the Drill.

(Thanks
to Matt Easton of Schola Gladiatoria for notes on Angelo’s Infantry Sword Exercise. Any errors are solely mine)

Next: U.S. Army Brevet Major
Henry C. Wayne’s Sword Exercise, Arranged
for Military Instruction

About the Victorian Fencing Society

The Victorian Fencing Society was formed in 2011 for the Research, Training and Demonstrations in the fashion of fencing from the nineteenth century.
We meet in the Dallas area for monthly practice in nineteenth century fencing techniques at the Fencing Institute of Texas. President and Instructor Jonathan Carr started fencing in 1984 and has been coaching fencing since 1997.
Our primary manuals of study come from the Fencing volume of the Badminton library published in 1889 by Walter H. Pollock, F.C. Grove and Camille Prevost, Foil and Sabre by Louis Rondelle published in 1892 in Boston, and Alfred Hutton’s treatise on Saber called Cold Steel published in 1889.
The society is open to all individuals interested in studying the history of fencing in the nineteenth century. No experience is necessary.
Please contact Jonathan Carr for any questions at the email listed in the contact info. Check out our facebook page for recent activity.